


Look Closer

by bellahrke



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternative Universe - FBI, Bellarke, F/M, FBI Agent Bellamy, Linctavia - Freeform, also a bit of wicken why not, criminal!Clarke, i loved writing this, they're basically criminals that use magic and illusions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-22
Updated: 2015-03-22
Packaged: 2018-03-19 02:22:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3592728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellahrke/pseuds/bellahrke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Since centuries magic and illusion fascinate people all over the world, but what happens when they're used by a group of criminals?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Look Closer

**Author's Note:**

> This work was inspired by an amazing movie I saw a couple of months ago, Now You See Me. It's a modern AU and it will be multi-chapters.  
> Also, thank you so much for reading!

It's very late in Chicago, streets full of people and clubs still open. A lot of people are gathered in the main square of the city, where a blond young woman is about to practice one of her best magic tricks.

A mysterious smile is on her lips as she's looking at all the people pushing each other to get closer, right in front of her.

“Look closely. Because the closer you think you are, the less you will actually see.” She starts to walk around, looking into all the curious eyes glued on her small figure.

Magic. The most powerful, dangerous tool. And Clarke knows exactly how to use it. She can always see it on their faces, the way they try to understand the trick even before her number is done. Their eyes focused on her hands, on her face, hypnotized by her words and her voice, when the trick is literally happening somewhere else. It's a strange, unreal mechanism that still surprises her every day.

She holds the cards in her hands, flipping them through her fingers and shuffling them in front of a young guy she has just picked as a victim. She perfectly knows she can fool him easily and that's exactly what she's planning to do. “Take one of these and put it in your wallet.”

The green-eyed guy smiles at her and follows her instructions, picking a card from her deck. It's an eight of diamonds. Without letting her see the number nor the suit, he takes his wallet and places the card inside, without taking his eyes off Clarke.

“Let's say I will be able to get the card back. And I'll get it back without even coming closer. What do you say?” A smile appears on her face as she steps back, far away from him. She makes the cards lift through her fingers and then she makes them blow in the air.

All the looks lift up amazed by the silver shiny dust released into the dark sky. It's when Clarke hears a lot of "ooh" that she understands how she had just left everyone speechless with a simple trick. And when the eyes of the guy come back to hers, she is already holding his eight of diamonds in a hand, showing it to everyone. The crowd claps at her with amusement and she accepts all the cheers with a wink.

“Hey -– where is my wallet?” The guy, already with his hands inside his empty pockets, starts to freak out. Luckily for Clarke, his voice is still covered by the claps, giving to her some time to leave as fast as she can.

“Stop that girl, she just stole my money!”

She smiles without a second thought and keeps walking through the crowded square, leaving behind one of the hundred people that, as usual, she had the chance to fool with her magic.

\---

“Blake, at least tell me we have something in our hands and we didn’t just throw away last night.” Miller is lying on the opposite couch of Bellamy’s, that had his dark eyes glued to the screen of his Mac.

“My sister complains less than you, Miller.” Bellamy still cannot understand why Kane, their Captain, decided to assign this case to Miller. Yes, he's a good agent, but patience is certainly not one of his best qualities. Bellamy was perfectly aware of that since the day he met him at CPD, and now they had to be partners.

“Screw you.” Miller shakes his head, placing his beer on the table in front of him. “And anyway, Kane wouldn't do any better than us. We never had the chance to deal with criminals who are... Able to disappear into thin air.”

Bellamy nods, looking at all the papers scattered on the table. “It seems like we are going nowhere, always coming back to the beginning.” He picks up one of the pictures while talking, looking closely to the girl on it.

She's blond, with watery blue eyes that spark like diamonds under the lights of the city. He still doesn't know her name, but he's perfectly aware that she's one of the members of the magic group the CPD is trying to bring in.

“We don’t even know how many of them there are or where they are gonna strike next time. They seem to be everywhere. It's like chasing a ghost.”

“You just have to figure out how to catch a ghost.” A voice behind their backs interrupts them, making them both turn around. Octavia, Bellamy's sister, is standing behind them and her older brother immediately notices that she looks really interested in their case.

Miller sighs. “Yes, well said Sherlock. But we are still at the famous starting point.”

“It seems like you guys don’t know magicians well enough.” Octavia comes closer, jumping on the couch where Bellamy is sitting. “They know that you are looking for them and this is actually what they want. Make you going out of your minds, be anywhere at any time. It's where the magic trick is hiding.”

Miller raises his eyebrows, surprised by what Octavia just said. Maybe, just maybe, she's right. “So in order to catch them, we have to learn how to practice... Magic?”

Bellamy looks at his sister, his mind suddenly lighting up. “Or we just have to think like them."

She nods her head, her eyes meeting his older brother's ones, perfectly aware that he's the right person for the job.

Miller points at them with a finger, finally putting himself well seated on the other couch. "Let's get back to work then, I don’t wanna lose my job.”

Octavia smiles at his words and picks up one of the sheets lying on the table. “Finally! Something cool to do.”

Bellamy immediately takes the sheet from her hand, his eyes landing on her with a stop-thinking-about-it look. “It's confidential. And sis, you were not an FBI agent last time I checked."

Octavia snorts, rolling her eyes. It's always the same freaking annoying story. She gets up from the couch, giving a quick look at her brother. “Was just tryin' to help.”

“Wanna help? Clean up all the dirty dishes that are still in the sink, O.”

“In your dreams, Bell.”

Miller chuckles as Octavia reaches the bathroom and slams the door behind her, filling the living room with silence. Bellamy takes a deep breath and closes his eyes.

Since their parents died, Bellamy always looked out for his sister. He had to grow up fast, trying to do his best to take care of her. They had always been strong and too many times they had found themselves fighting for nothing, but their bond was still unbreakable. They loved each other even if the I love you's weren't frequently used in their conversations.

Miller clears his throat and Bellamy notices that his new partner is finally focusing his attention on their case. “Okay, man. We have to understand how a group of magicians - who are also criminals - thinks.”

“Magic is the key.” Bellamy says, studying with attention all the things on the table. “If we wanna catch them for good, we have to use their ways. And that’s exactly what I’ll do.” 

“Hold on, do you want to infiltrate their group of freaks?” Miller asks, trying to understand what Bellamy has in mind. Something absolutely insane, since he doesn't know a single thing about magic tricks or magic in general.

“Well, if you can find another way to get me closer to her, I'm listening.” His eyes reach the photo of the blondie, his new target. He just doesn't want to let her go so easily, not when he finally has a plan who can still work out.

Miller sighs with frustration, shaking his head. In his opinion that's definitely the worst idea ever.

\---

It's really early in the morning when Clarke finally enters Raven's loft. The sun is starting to light up the sky with a beautiful sunrise, coloring it with pretty shadows of orange and pink. Its rays are crashing against the windows of every single skyscraper around the loft, creating a beautiful and breath-taking game of lights.

Raven lives downtown, in a building that has the best view Clarke has ever seen in her whole life. For all of them, it's a habit find themselves in that beautiful secret place. She met the whole group a year earlier, they all welcomed her in the best way possible like a real family would have done.

Clarke never thought about herself as a criminal. Since she was a child, she was sure that she would have graduated from college and then she would have become a doctor, like her mother.

At least, that was what Abby wanted for her. But then everything changed, her father died and she was unable to have the same relationship she had before with her. The only thing that seemed to keep up their mother-daughter bond was Clarke’s future that suddenly was no longer what she really wanted.

Since her father was gone, she started to become someone else, someone she didn't know. Magic helped her to escape. She left everything behind and in spite of all the difficulties, she still doesn't regret a single thing. 

Clarke puts her keys in the lock and slowly opens the door, feeling really tired from the night spent outside.

Once inside, she takes few seconds to look around. Everything is quiet and thanks to the huge window and the sunlight filtering though it, she notices Jasper sleeping on Raven’s couch, still holding some cards in his hands. Clarke quietly closes the door behind her as a little laugh escapes from her lips, thinking that he probably fell asleep while he was trying to do one of his illusions.

Clarke always thought that Jasper was the sweetest of them all, always trying to cheer her up when she's having a bad day. Everything he knows, he learned it from his parents, two magicians who mysteriously disappeared five years earlier during a trip to the desert. Clarke still doesn't know how that happened because Jasper never wanted to talk about it and she never wanted to ask questions about it anyway.

“Wild night, huh?” Clarke flips her head and sees Raven sitting on one of the stools around the kitchen’s table. She's slowly turning on it while she has a book in her hands. Her eyes are glued on the pages like she doesn't want to lose a single word of what she's reading.

"Hell night, Ray.” Clarke corrects her and gets closer to her friend, taking from her black leather jacket a lot of money – all the money – she had the chance to steal that night.

Raven finally turns her gaze on what the blonde is holding in her hands while a little smirk appears on her face. “Since when you can steal that much on the streets? Count me in for tomorrow night.” 

Clarke throws all the money on the table in front of them and sits on the stool next to Raven. “Since tourists in Chicago are getting richer. Still dumb as they were last year, anyway.”

Raven nods and keeps smiling. “Well, it’s obviously funnier than spend your whole freaking night reading this damn book.” She flips some pages through her fingers, a really annoyed sigh slipping out of her mouth.

“What are you reading?”

“A book about magic. I’m looking for something that Monty asked me to practice, something about explosions. You know, my thing.” She looks at Clarke, winking at her.

They used to call Raven the "explosive illusionist" because all her magic tricks end up with an explosion. She's a pretty dangerous one, no one can deny it. So many times in the past, when things went bad, they had to help her extinguish some fires. She got kicked out from several boarding schools when she was younger because she loved making things "go boom" (as she always said since the day they met). She never met her parents and she had always been on his own, until she met Monty in Chicago few years earlier and they decided to stick together as partners and brought their group to life.

Clarke returns her look, suddenly interested. She perfectly knows Monty is a genius, his ideas are always brilliant and now she's too curious to know what he's up to. “Did he tell you something about it?”

Raven shrugs her shoulders. “No, not yet. He called me last night and he told me that he had to –– actually, I didn't really understand what he said he was about to do.”

Clarke chuckles at her answer, shaking her head. “As usual.”

Raven's eyes suddenly goes on Clarke’s jacket, pointing at it with a nod and furrowing her eyebrows. “What’s that?”

Clarke looks where her friend is staring, noticing something sticking out from the pocket. She opens it and takes in her hands an unknown object. A card with an old Egyptian picture printed on it. 

“I have no idea.”


End file.
